How good was Floyd?

[Ron Swanson]

To give you an idea, people said he was better at the lighter weights, which makes sense. Younger, faster etcetera. But even at 147, coming out of retirement the P4P list had
1-Pac
2-JMM
3-Mosley

He fought them all AFTER COMING OUT OF RETIREMENT. And another fighter that was number 1 P4P for years in Canelo. This is his not as good portion of his career in many minds

To give you a comparison so you can understand how unfairly people look at his career. The great Monster Inoue is looked at as having a sterling CV and his best opponent is (by boxeoguide) number 32 pound for pound.

I can pull up people that absolutely hate him, like Oscar Delahoya for example saying “you have to look at what he’s done, he might be the best ever”.

I’m not saying he is, but Diego Corrales was a killing machine when Floyd fought him, and made him look easy. When doing his “after coming out of retirement” bit I left off HOF fighters! That’s how great he was

He was so good people still talk about a sparring session he lost, his first day back in the gym against a fight ready fighter. A fricking sparring session, 1!

[TIC]

floyd was very good but his record has glaring holes & some of his wins look better on paper than in reality

[Master]

Floyd took off time many times in his career even in the early days and these retirements should not mean he was better than he really was. They may have been managerial and promotional related but taking on a blown up welterweight in JMM and not bothering to make weight shows his class.

[Mark TKO]

Technically excellent and best defensive fighter ever.

Never took any risks with opponents. That's not to say they weren't decent opponents though.

[Primo Carnera]

Floyd varies opinions like no other boxer. And I’m not saying he was TBE. But he has every right to put his name up for it.
Look at his career and tell me a fight he didn’t win COMFORTABLY. Yes he had a moment in the Moseley fight, yes Maidana made a nuisance of himself with him. But I don’t think there was a fight where he got a decision he shouldn’t have got.
So with all that in mind, there was probably more left in the tank.
Btw, people say that future P4Per Canelo was a boy when they fought, but he was a 23 year old with over 40 fights under his belt. And Floyd was 37 ffs! Who else does what he does at 37?
Deserves respect even by the haters.

[mikeeod]

In my opinion, Floyd was great. He was that rare athlete who was naturally gifted but also an extremely hard worker who had phenomenal skills and ring IQ. I’m not sure if you were asking how “good” his skills were or how “good” his career was, but for me the answer to both is “great”.

Floyd started at 130 and was not a big man (Chico Corrales was much larger at 130), yet he went up and won vs elite 147/154 pounders. He was able to accomplish this through speed, stamina, and because he was so much better/ more skilled over everyone else. Starting with his career, he had some great wins over Chico (unified a portion of the belts and cleaned out 130 since Freitas and Casamayor weren’t in a rush to fight him), won the lineal title at 135 from a very tough/formidable Jose Luis Castillo, stopped the undefeated Ricky Hatton, and beat Oscar, Shane, Canelo, and Manny. I don’t hold his lack of knockouts at the higher weights against Floyd, I feel he was like Sweet Pea Whitaker in that he moved up way past his ideal weight and still dominated but didn’t have the pop to knock the much larger men out.

As great as Floyd’s career was, I feel his skills inside the ring were even more impressive. Watch his fights vs Chico and Hatton and try and name one thing Floyd didn’t do masterfully. Great jab. Great footwork. Great counters. Great work to the body. Great defense (multi-layered with head movement, slipping, parrying, blocking…etc.). Good punching power. Great footwork. Fighting inside and outside, off the ropes and center of the ring, and dictating pace, distance, and location of the fight. Boxing IQ that allowed him to make adjustments and completely take over competitive fights.

I can see the arguments against Floyd. While I don’t agree with them, I can see how people have come to those perspectives, especially considering the emotional reaction to the Money Maywesther/TBE schtick he moved to later in his career. I think Floyd was very much like Ali and Ric Flair in that he understood the heel/bad guy creates more passion and therefore sells more tickets. Floyd was a great fighter, was a great promoter ( of himself), and is a successful businessman.

[VG_Addict]

What if Floyd fought and beat Casamayor and Freitas at 130, Dorin and Spadafora at 135, Hatton at 140, prime Pacquiao in 2011, Bradley in 2012, and Canelo without a catchweight in 2013?

Where would he rank all-time? Top 10? Even beating prime Pacquiao and Canelo without a catchweight would dramatically increase his ATG standing. I think doing all of the above would give him the best resume since SRL.

[TIC]

Floyd varies opinions like no other boxer. And I’m not saying he was TBE. But he has every right to put his name up for it.
Look at his career and tell me a fight he didn’t win COMFORTABLY. Yes he had a moment in the Moseley fight, yes Maidana made a nuisance of himself with him. But I don’t think there was a fight where he got a decision he shouldn’t have got.
So with all that in mind, there was probably more left in the tank.
Btw, people say that future P4Per Canelo was a boy when they fought, but he was a 23 year old with over 40 fights under his belt. And Floyd was 37 ffs! Who else does what he does at 37?
Deserves respect even by the haters.

jose luis castillo one? i give floyd huge respect for the immediate rematch with el temible. floyd could have probably beaten anyone on his night, the jose luis rematch for example but i can't give him credit for fights he never fought. for me after jose luis there was never a challenge that was close to fifty fifty going in

[mikeeod]

Floyd varies opinions like no other boxer. And I’m not saying he was TBE. But he has every right to put his name up for it.
Look at his career and tell me a fight he didn’t win COMFORTABLY. Yes he had a moment in the Moseley fight, yes Maidana made a nuisance of himself with him. But I don’t think there was a fight where he got a decision he shouldn’t have got.
So with all that in mind, there was probably more left in the tank.
Btw, people say that future P4Per Canelo was a boy when they fought, but he was a 23 year old with over 40 fights under his belt. And Floyd was 37 ffs! Who else does what he does at 37?
Deserves respect even by the haters.

jose luis castillo one? i give floyd huge respect for the immediate rematch with el temible. floyd could have probably beaten anyone on his night, the jose luis rematch for example but i can't give him credit for fights he never fought. for me after jose luis there was never a challenge that was close to fifty fifty going in

I thought Castillo won the first fight. I give Floyd a ton of credit for the immediate rematch as well. I feel like the Mosley fight and Hatton fight were both 50/50. Mosley was coming off the destruction or Margo and ranked #3 p4p. Hatton was unified champ at 140, undefeated, and ranked p4p. Those were good wins.

There really weren’t many threats to Floyd who stayed relevant long enough to hype the fight. Judah had hype after destroying Spinks, but then lost to Baldomir. Margo had hype and lost to Paul Williams and then was blown out by Shane. Paul Williams had hype and then lost to Quintana and Martinez. Manny was the one available prime fighter he never fought. Full disclosure, I’m team Manny, but even with tHat I don’t think Floyd ducked Manny. I feel like both fighters negotiated themselVes out of the biggest fight of their generation. It was past its sell by date when THEY got back around to it.